Can I get a judgment removed from my credit report?
I had a Judgement entered on feb/2012 for a $400 medical bill. It increased to $800 once it was sold to a debt collector. The collector reached out to me to make payments but I could not due to lack of funds. Long story short. A judgement was served to my then boyfriend at the time (feb/2012) because he opened my door and confirmed I lived at that residence. Missed court date so the collector received a default judgement against me. Started making payments of $100 every month until I lost my job again. I haven't heard from them since. I made 2 or 3 payments total after the judgement was in place.
I want to fix this debt but I want the judgement to be removed from my credit report. Called the collector 2 months ago informing them I would make two split to pay balance in full within 1 month. They declined saying they would gladly accept the payment but will not remove the judgement they will only said judgement settled on my cr. The firm is a building not far from home maybe 20 min ago with an office of like 5 ppl. Not sure if i can go in face to face to make arrangement again with my same terms or speak to another agent and or person in charge. Not sure if its something i can do on my own to meet my terms or if i need to get my own attorney to do the negotiating for me. Really want to take care of this before it increase any higher than it already is or worse/wage garnishment. btw I live in M0.
How can I get a judgement removed off my account if I pay the balance in full? Is this something i can do on my own if told
—Jai
Short answer
Not by asking whoever is collecting. Debt collectors, debt buyers and collection attorneys cannot make your original creditor change what it reports, and nobody collecting the debt controls the court record. Removing a judgment means getting it vacated. For most people the practical move is to pay or settle it and make sure a satisfaction of judgment gets filed.
Key points on this page
- There is a hierarchy to credit reporting. Collectors, debt buyers and collection attorneys cannot change what the bank reports, and original creditors have no real influence over the court record once judgment is entered.
- The judgment is a matter of public record and the court maintains it. Getting it vacated takes an attorney who knows that work, or a lot of your own time and energy.
- Judgment debt carries a 7 year shelf life, and that clock starts on the date the judgment was entered, not on your first missed payment.
- The earlier stages, from first late payment through charge off and collection reporting, carry about a 7.5 year shelf life from the date you missed your first payment.
- Paying or settling the judgment results in a satisfaction of judgment. Put the filing of that satisfaction in the agreement in clear terms, because there is no shortage of feet dragging on updating the court.
- Once the satisfaction is on the court record you can use it to update your credit report yourself, which matters when you are trying to get a home loan approved or refinance. On a small balance, paying it also heads off garnishment.
It sounds like your main goal is to resolve the debt and get the negative off of your credit report. Unfortunately, you are fighting a losing battle with this approach.
Getting a Court Judgment Removed From Your Credit Report
The life time credit cycle of a debt that goes unpaid looks like this:
- 30 days after you miss a payment to a creditor, like a credit card bill, you should see a thirty day late pay on your credit report if the item appeared there already and is updated regularly.
- 60 days after a missed payment you now would have 2 payments skipped and are considered 60 days late.
- As long as you continue to miss payments month by month you are being reported as an additional month late.
- Ultimately the creditor will charge off the debt and take an accounting hit. The charge off is often then reflected on your credit report.
The Life Cycle of Credit Damage
After missing payments on unsecured (and most other debts), your account may take on some additional qualities after charge off.
5. If a debt collector/debt buyer has the account and reports it as a collection on your credit report, with a balance due, the charge off from the original creditor remains, and the new negative will be reporting a balance due them, not the original creditor.
6. If you are sued for collection and judgment entered in the court, the judgment can turn up in the public record section of your credit profile.
Most of the negative credit impact from missing bill payments does not get to #6. One through 5 has a 7.5 year shelf life from the date you missed your first payment. There are some shenanigans that occur with credit reporting and debt collection accounts being reported with more recent dates, and even instances of multiple entries showing up for the same debt and more than one reporting a balance due, which is not right because you cannot owe the same debt to more than one place.
I am pointing out the above as a brief outline for later readers of this page. A little perspective of what happens to credit reports along the way when a bill remains unpaid is a good foundation for what I have to share about getting a judgment removed from credit reports.
Credit Reporting, Collectors, Debt Buyers, or Attorneys Collecting Debt
There is a hierarchy to who can do what when it comes to credit reporting. Debt collectors, debt buyers, and attorneys that collect debt cannot make your original creditor change what the bank is reporting to the credit bureaus. And even the original creditors have no real influence over the court records once the judgement is entered.
The judgment is a matter of public record. The integrity of that record is maintained by the court. You would need to get the judgment vacated, or the judgment creditor to somehow miraculously want to undo their suing you (doesn’t happen).
Unless you have a good argument for getting the judgment vacated, and are willing to spend the money on an attorney who knows what they are doing when it comes to accomplishing something like this, or dedicate a hell of a lot of personal time and energy to learning how to do it for yourself, the judgment will stay in the record with the court.
Judgment debt has a 7 year shelf life too, but the time only starts ticking from the date the judgment was entered.
Is this a big deal? Not for most people. Getting the judgment paid, even for less than the balance owed if that is agreed to, will result in a satisfaction of judgment being filed. You can use the court record to rapidly update your credit report yourself if you are dealing with the judgment in order to get a home loan approved, or refinance a current mortgage.
Be sure that any pay off agreement, whether in full, or for less than the judgment balance, includes filing the satisfaction with the court. There is no shortage of feet dragging when it comes to updating the court.
Paying Off or Settling a Judgment Debt Can Be Done on Your Own
It is always best to discuss legal matters with an attorney who practices in a specific area of law. In this case, one with credit reporting or debt collection experience. Hiring one to help resolve an 800.00 debt may not make sense unless you want to battle the judgment itself.
With a smaller debt amount such as this one, you can get the payment in and avoid garnishment. Just be sure that any agreement to pay includes in clear terms that upon receipt of payment, or the full agreement being met, a judgment satisfaction will be filed with the court.
Improving Your Credit Report After Payment Setbacks and Judgments
I will have a series up at the beginning of the year that details credit report recovery and tips for increasing credit scores after bouncing back from a tough financial patch. In the mean time, if you can answer the following questions in a comment reply, I can give some more feedback:
What are your immediate financial and credit goals (buying a home, car, other)?
What other negatives appear on your credit report beside the original payment default related to the judgment debt, and the judgment itself?
What positive items are appearing on your credit report right now?
Need some personalized help?
If you would like confidential help you can…
- ask a quick question here
- request a general debt consultation here
- get a settlement estimate here
- use the CRN Platform to settle your debts or find dedicated Debt Coach here
Not sure where to start? Click on the big blue “Get Debt Help” button.
About Michael BoveeMichael started CRN in 2004 with a mission to provide people in need with detailed debt and credit help and education. Michael has participated as an expert panelist in federal consumer protection rule making, collaborated on state law changes governing debt consolidation, has worked as an expert witness in court matters related to the debt relief industry. He is available to speak with you about your financial struggle and helps people resolve their debt problems daily.
I recently disputed a judgment with the credit card company and they have it deleted, but this information still shows in the public record. How can I have this removed?
Credit card companies cannot delete judgments, but they can delete their own collection entry.
What is your dispute about the judgment, or what is the premise for it to be deleted?
Hello. I recently was given notice of a wage garnishment for a small claims judgement that had been filed against me for an auto loan back in 2002. The original judgement shows it was entered in 2002 and then it was renewed in 2012 before the SOL ran out in California. Now in 2016 they are trying to garnish my wages. If I can make a payment arrangement with the creditor and they agree to stop the garnishment, can they start reporting the judgement on my credit once I start making payments? A judgement has never showed up on my credit which is why I wasn’t aware that I had one. I just don’t know if I start making payments, whether they will have the right to begin reporting this 14 year old debt.
Judgments only report for 7 years from the date of entry. That time was up years ago. They do not get more time to show on your credit than that regardless of whether you pay or not.
As you know though, the judgments can still be enforced.
I’m trying to purchase my first home and after the prequalification I was told I need to resolve two judgments and about four collection accounts. The debts stem from accounts I had in 2007-2008. I also have student loan debt of $90,000+ that is in income based repayment.
My question is should I attempt to pay those accounts even though they are reaged debts that initially went to collections in 2007-2008? Or should I play the wait game or should I press the issue to have them removed by filing a complaint with them?
Call me for a consult Yasmin. You can reach me at 800-939-8357, choose option 2.
You may only need to resolve the judgment debts. Those are what is likely holding up the loan process, and it does not matter if they are not on your credit reports. Judgments turn up as part of a public record search.
I can dig deeper when we speak, but I would encourage you to reach out to speak with debt collectors that are not on your credit and not part of a court judgment. If there are collectors showing on your credit that should not be we can cover some actions steps to resolve those too.
Thank you for your support.
Can I ask a quick question?
I settled a judgement and paid $500 of the $680 original amount last year (April ’14)
I had to fight to get this record showed as PAID with Experian. After I proved it was paid, this record is still haunting my credit report.
The fact that it still says PAID and is ON my credit report is hurting me in more ways than one.
Please tell me what I need to do to get this record OFF my credit report completely.
Do I need to hire a lawyer and get it expunged?
Any advice appreciated!
Thank you!
-Rob
You typically cannot hire an attorney to get a judgment expunged or removed from the court record. You can make sure that the courts show your judgment as paid or satisfied, which ultimately leads to your credit reports showing same, but you have to wait out the 7 years for the judgment to drop off.
What are your current credit and finance goals?
Hi I have a judgement on my credit report how can I talk to the attorney to settle for a lower amount?
Who is the judgment creditor? What is the name of the collection law firm that handled the case? How much is the judgment for?
You want to be careful when negotiating judgment debt if your goal is to save as much money as you can in the process. You are welcome to call me for a consult at 800-939-8357, option 2 rings to me. I do have an article up about how to approach negotiating a judgment.
Do you have a specific credit or financing goal you are looking to accomplish that the judgment is holding you back from?
Michael,
There is a Civil Judgement against me in Texas for an apartment lease in the amount of $6187. I have tried to settle it with the creditor and have spoken to their attorney but he has yet to respond. He said that he would speak with his client and call me back. That was a week ago, after two weeks of no response via e-mail. I am wondering if he doesn’t respond, can I somehow challenge the judgement and have it vacated or dismissed off my credit report, similar to the way the credit bureaus delete inaccurate or non-responsive debts from credit card companies.
Also, I am an Inactivate Real Estate Agent and have to either have a payment plan in place or the judgment satisfied by July to reactivate my license. What can I do if he doesn’t accept a payment plan or refuses to enter a release of judgement with the court, can I sue for non-performance? As I know to get any agreement in writing.
There is a little bad blood and I think the creditor or attorney sniffs that I have plans and either wants to prevent me from achieving them or just give me the run around and charge more attorneys fees. I could be wrong.
What is your best advice to settle, satisfy and or remove the judgment so that I can be a Real Estate Agent again?
Vacating a judgment requires a limited angle or strategy. It is not commonly done. What reason would you have to try to vacate? It would be best to run your situation by an attorney with debt defense experience to see what is viable. What is the name of a large city near you? I will email you contact info to some I know with the experience you need.
More often than not, settling the judgment is most recommended. Can you come up with 50 to 60 percent of the balance owed? How long will that take?
Hey Michael
My goal is to purchase my first home. I was able to have a judgement removed yesterday from my Transunion Report. They had the wrong information on it so i disputed it over the phone. Now I’m trying to figure out what would be the best strategy to have the same judgement removed from Equifax and Experian credit reports.. Both reports show errors on them. as far as date and amount and I was thinking about using the letter that Transunion is sending me to show their findings when trying to validate the judgement. As far as other items on my credit…I have about 8 or 9 medical bills in collections….6 are from this year and I’m applying for assistance to have those paid off and 3 are from about 5-6 years ago(I’m also considering paying those off) I have a little under 60,000 debt in student loans that are in deferment(thinking about maybe undoing that and start making payments)….???… I have one secure credit card for $300……an old unpaid electric bill for $400 from 2011 and a balance of $100 owed to another company that’s is set to fall off my reports in 2016. Wondering how paying off any of these accounts(medical/other) would effect my credit scores. I also was wondering if you know about fico 9 and what lenders may be using it? Also do you know how much my scores could increase without the ($3000) judgement on there???
I am not aware of any mortgage lenders using FICO 9 yet.
If you are disputing the judgment debts on your credit reports with the purpose of being in better shape to get a home loan approved, you are likely under the wrong impression of how that works. Mortgage underwriting will find the judgments. They are part of the public record even when they are too old to show on your credit reports anymore. Unresolved judgments, whether showing on your credit or not, will prevent home loan approval.
Unpaid collections of virtually any flavor can prevent loan approval. You will want to resolve all of them (does not matter if you pay in full or settle for less than owed), and get that updated to your credit reports. Paid or resolved medical debts weigh less on your credit scores these days.
Given your state goal of getting a home loan approved I would use available funds to resolve collection accounts and judgments before bring student loans out of deferment.
How much is the judgment?
Michael,
We have multiple liens on our house from defaulted credit card debt. How do i get a list of ALL the liens on my house, just in case we get some resources with which to negotiate settlements?
Your county recorder should be who you can go to in order to get a listing of liens and encumbrances on any specific property. If you have not moved around much you can often look up your name and get a listing of all judgments in your county court, but that is not always the case, and not all judgments result in property liens being filed.
2200.00 Judgment with capital one, scheduled to remain on my credit report until August 2016.
What is my best course of action with this judgment? Should I still attempt to pay it off? If so, do i call Capital One directly?
It was good to speak with you on the phone Lisa. Keep me posted with what develops on your Capital One account.
I have a judgement from a real estate deal and the plaintiff has died with no heirs. The judgment is from 2010. How do I get rid of this judgement that I never deserved? Thank you for taking the time to answer the above questions there’s a wealth of information to be found there.
What state do you live in?
How much is the judgment for?
well the thing is that my husbands credit is around 480 i dont know how much will his credit score increase with one satisfied judgement and the other vacated. the lady that is currently helping me stated that i dont need to pay my medical bills “because it doesnt hurt the process of buying a home”. if i pay them will my credit increase? she stated that i might b able to get the loan under my name i honestly dont know how. i have no knowledge of credit and when i do try to search on the topic many people state different things.
Which credit reporting agency has your husbands score at 480? What do the other two have his score at? FHA underwriting typically requires a 580. What are your scores?
Yes, your husbands credit car improve significantly once collection accounts are resolved.
Paid medical collections often do not factor. Small unpaid medical collections can sometimes not factor, or are not reported on your credit.
How many medical collections appear on either of your credit reports?
I honestly dont know… when the lady that is helping us pulled his credit she said his credit is 480 something. then she told me mines is 547. we both have about 7 medical collections together. I have about 4 other ones that are from tmobile and sprint. them i have a student loan that was paid and closed. i just reported today that updates on both judgements. i dont know how long will that take. we are going through a hard ship and we were hoping to buy a home because its much cheaper than to rent, should i focus on the other ones first and then tackle the medical bills? my husband has on auto loan for about 7 months and has been paid on time every single month. thats y we wanted to use his credit because he atleast have a loan out.
Sorry I have 5 medical collections (which two of them are reported twice dont know why) my husband has only one and the two judgements.
and sorry AGAIN i just saw that my husband has two more old judgements that were satisfied.
In order of priority I would focus on making sure all updates are reporting correctly and updated to show paid/satisfied.
I would then focus on any unresolved debts that are showing as collections. If those are all medical debts, start tackling them either by settling for a lower lump sum you negotiate, or paying them off.
Paid medical does not impact credit scoring like it once did.
It sounds like you will accomplish your goal of buying a home through an FHA type of program. You just have to wade through resolving unpaid accounts and be patient a little while longer.
Ok so I’ll try to settle everything on my credit little by little because to be quite honest we don’t make much money. We actually took out a loan to pay the judgements. But thank you for all your time and help. You are very much appreciated.
I have a question. on Credit Karma it shows that a medical collection dops my husbands credit almost by 50 points. when i remove it will it go back up? hospital agreed to remove it once i pay it.
If the account at issue is the only thing that happened to drop his credit score, removing it would likely bring it back, or close to it (but so long as there were not other changes to his credit).
yes, that was the only thing that changed last week. i am going to settle it for $75.00 n pay it hopefully this friday. They said they will remove it within days since i work at thehospital.
Hey Michael… first off i wanna thank you for taking your time to respond to those that are having some troble with their credit. I myself am also having some problems…. most of it is not having the understanding about credit. I have one Judgement on my credit and my husband has two. One of his which I also have is a Tax lien. it was filed in 2013 and we just payed it 2 weeks ago. they promised to vacate it and i have already received the letter stating that. My credit score says 547 but i have no credit…. i also have a few collections (medical bills) and i believe one from sprint. i am paying off my medical bills this month but my question is will my credit improve much even if i dont have a credit line?? ok… so moving forward with my husbands account.. the tax lien is paid and its on its way getting vacated but the second one is a law suit. We settled that one and paid it 2 weeks ago but the lawyer stated that he cant remove it all he can do it send me a warrant of satisfaction. will that do anything to my husbands credit? that fact that we paid it….. we r trying to buy a home asap. but i need to wait on the updates on our credit report. is there any way we can vacate the law suit?
thanks for all your help.
You will want to resolve unpaid debts on your credit reports and also add new positive credit. Once you get everything resolved I would look into getting a small limit unsecured card from someone like Capital One, or start with a secured card.
You want the satisfaction to be filed with the court so that his credit reports can be updated to show a paid judgment. His credit can improve from there, and the home loan can go through. That satisfaction notice is something you can give to a loan officer for manual processing or rapid re-score.
You need a reason to vacate a lawsuit. It can take a good deal of time and attorney fees to do that, and you could lose in the effort even when you have a good reason (never served properly, disputed debt, etc).
Hi Mike,
I had a medical judgement against me. I paid in full within time span on the documents. Now, six months later it is showing up on my credit reports knocking my score as low as 7 points. I’ve been trying to clean up my credit I am now at a high 570 something. My only open line of credit is my car payment that is perfect. Will I be able to get this off of my public record? I planned on getting a secured credit card next week. I have small goals for now..car insurance in my own name…so high with bad credit…then a used harley that I can pay off but planned on trying for a loan to show payments on time and a house in 4 to 5 years.. any suggestions I would be grateful!
Thank you,
Christina
I moved your comment from the home page to this reader question about getting judgments off of your credit reports. Read the original article and above and into the comments too. This will help you better understand what is likely to happen from here with the judgment in the public records.
I would continue taking all the steps you outline about rebuilding your credit and be ready to meet the ability to repay rules for a mortgage when you are ready to buy. That can mean having a healthy debt to income ratio, a large enough down payment and/or shopping for the homes at the right price.
I have a public record showing on my account that doesn’t show that its paid not really sure what happened but when I first received I believe it was for a gym membership that my ex bf and I had I started making payments on and then that company got sold to LA Fitness so on my credit report it just shows under ” legal item” doesn’t show that its paid what does this mean and who can I contact to see if this is the same one Im thinking about also my one judgement that’s satisfied was for a medical bill I thought there was a new law that medical bills didn’t reflect on your credit score or something like that
Paid medical collection accounts have a muted impact on your credit score, or depending on the scoring model, a zero impact on your credit score. But yours is a judgment, which is not part of those recent score factoring changes. If the judgment is satisfied then you just keep building credit from here and let time help push your score back up.
I would contact the new club owners collections department and find out who the account was sent or sold to. That is… if the gym membership is not already a judgment. I could read your comment to say that. Is there an additional judgment besides the medical debt?
Yeah I remember getting the paperwork and doing automatic payments then when Bally got bought out by LA I never heard anything from them again so the judgment shows un satisfied not sure if it just went away because the company got sold or what
Existing judgments generally will not just go away. If you do not hear from anyone about collecting what is still owed on the judgment, it can appear that way.
I would contact the LA Fitness billing department and see what they can tell you.
It may help you to read over my article about settling and paying judgment debt.
My husband has a old judgement on his one credit report. It is over 10 years but received confirmation of a renewal recently through our local court. He was unaware of this until he received the paperwork from the court. When he ran his report, the two showed he had a score 650+. We did not run all three. When he applied for aVA loan it came up on the third report. The original judgement was approved for garnishment of his state taxes to pay the original debt. After several years of not getting his state taxes, he assumed the debt was paid or at least pretty close to settle. The original loan was for 4000. We sent an offer letter to settle and they stated he had to call to settle. When he did this they told him the pay off amount is over 9,000 but they would settle for 8,000! How can this be? He requested the paperwork to prove this figure, the refused and said we had to request this in writing, sent by registered mail. I am doing this now, but my question is can they do this and what can I do? Thanks for any help you can offer.
The balance on many judgment debts is growing from interest set by the court. The interest allowed to accumulated on judgment debts is often capped by state law. Many states cap at around 10%. That can make a debt more than double after this much time.
You could probably get a better settlement than that. Call me for a consult if you like at 800-939-8357, choose option 2.
I have a question about how to handle a judgement on my record. i had an account with chase that was charged off back in 2009 when i fell onto a difficult time being pregnant on bed rest & we ended up losing our home in the process as i was unable to work. they sold it to midland & in process turned into a judgement in 2011. It states on my credit report that the chase (Original creditor) reporting should fall off my report this year. i had contacted a local law office who asked me to find proof i was gone on day they served me papers as i do not recall being served but it was so long ago and not sure i can find something to prove that this far out. i heard that if i contact midland that they will then begin reporting it as of the time i contact and pay which could draw out the statute of limitation on reporting. what is the best route for me to take to resolve this issue? do you have any attorneys in orange county california that you can refer me to? my score is around 690 right now even with the judgement on it. i was able to get a few credit cards this last year and the reporting on them is excellent – always on time and always pay more than the minimum. we eventually would like to be able to purchase a house again someday so i would like to resolve this judgement in whatever way would be most beneficial to my credit report. naturally midland keeps hiking up the amount but i have not been contacted by them in some time and nothing has been levied as of yet. we have a large family and under a tight budget so not sure how i would come up with the $ to pay them but again want to know what my options are to handle this with the goal of eventually being able to purchase a home one day again. thank you for your time! i appreciate any tips you can give…
What you heard about Midland Funding setting a new credit reporting date after you contact them or pay them is wrong. If that did happen it would be a mistake and easily fixed.
I can help you consider the best next step given your goals. You can reach me at800-939-8357 and choose option 2.
My bank account was recently levied for a judgement. In the state of MN, 25% of your disposable income is all that can be taken for a work garnishment, is this the same for a bank garnishment? And who determines how much of my money is protected? The bank told me that they don’t determine how much 25% is, so who does is my question? They took $921 total, can they take all of the money in my account? I have no exemptions but who do I live of they take ALL money in my account every chance they get?
What is the judgment about? Who is the plaintiff that sued, and the collection attorneys levying your bank account?
Generally, Minnesota protects deposited wages from bank levy. You will want to connect with an experienced debt collection defense attorney and discuss your rights.
Michael
I have an Advanta account listed on my credit report. The account was closed and charged off in 2007.. It was then reported again in 2010 that I made a payment. My question is should it drop off my credit reports 7 years and 180 days from 2007 or from 2010? If it is 2007 should I dispute it? Thank you . I took yours advice about the judgment being satisfied and the credit bureaus have already marked as satisfied.
Hello Michael,
I too have a judgment on my credit report. The judgment has been paid in full, released, and satisfied. I called and talked to reps from TransUnion and Equifax and quoted the last paragraph on my released letter stating that “The above tax judgment having been settled, cancelled, and/or satisfied, the same is hereby discharged upon payment of the court costs by the defendant to the Clerk of Courts.” I also faxed this document in and they removed it from my report. Experian will not remove it and I do not know what else to do. What can be done in my situation?
Paid tax liens can stay on your report for 7 years. How long ago was this resolved? What type of tax was this?
Hi Michael,
I have a judgment on my credit report dated 12/2008. I have done a research since my sister and I have the same last and first name (different middle name). This record comes with my sister’s middle initial, unfortunately during the time Capital Bank filed this claim I was out of State married to a Military guy so I didn’t know I had to appear on court neither a case was open.
On the case says “estimated month and year this item will be removed 8/2015”. Do you think I should appeal the court to remove this from my file or just wait until it get removed?
This judgment was filed in Florida.
Thank you for your time and help
The judgment will still be there even though it does not appear on your credit reports. It will still prevent you from getting a home loan approved etc.
You will want to attack this at the source, which is through the court. If it were me, I would definitely petition the court that this be removed. I would suggest talking to an experienced debt collection defense attorney. If you need help locating one, post the name of a large city near the court in Florida the judgment is entered. I will send you an email with contacts to any I know in the area.